1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the dissolution and/or reaction of oxygen in liquids. More particularly, it relates to the enhancing of the rate of said dissolution and/or reaction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Air is commonly used as a source of oxygen in liquid phase systems to increase the dissolved oxygen concentration and/or to introduce oxygen as a reactant material. In some circumstances, it is desired to dissolve more oxygen to the liquid phase than an air-fed system can supply. The quantity of oxygen capable of being dissolved in the liquid phase from the air feed may be limited because of the inadequate mass transfer capabilities of a specific system. Also, the available air blower capacity may be inadequate to supply more air, or the system may not be able to tolerate a higher vent gas flow or, perhaps, a higher oxygen content in the vent stream.
A typical means used to improve the oxygen input rate is to increase the mass transfer rate by enriching the oxygen content of the air feed stream with pure oxygen or an oxygen-rich gas. Because the mass transfer efficiencies of commercial operating systems are often not particularly good, however, a large fraction of the added oxygen is typically lost in the vent stream. Such losses substantially increase the cost of using oxygen in this manner. In some cases, the additional oxygen cost can make such enrichment uneconomical. In addition, excessive loss of added oxygen into the vent stream increases the oxygen content of said vent stream, so that the composition of the vent gases could get into the explosive range with organic oxidation systems.
There is a desire and a need in the art to overcome such drawbacks in practical commercial gas dissolution and/or reaction operations. In particular, there is a need to improve oxygen utilization efficiency, the rate of oxygen dissolution and/or reaction and, to the extent possible, product yield in chemical reactions and/or gas dissolution systems involving oxygen where the use of additional oxygen is desired above that supplied by a feed air stream.
It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide an improved process for the dissolution and/or reaction of oxygen in liquid systems.
It is another object of the invention to provide for increasing the efficiency of oxygen utilization in air/liquid dissolution and/or reaction systems.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a process for reducing the loss of added oxygen with the vent stream as occurs in applications in which oxygen or an oxygen-rich gas is added to an air feed stream to increase the oxygen input rate in oxygen dissolution and/or reaction systems.
With these and other objects in mind, the invention is hereinafter described in detail, the novel features thereof being particularly pointed out in the appended claims.